Unterhaching – Second homes remain tax-free – District of Munich
The idea may have sounded very charming to the treasurer at first glance: The introduction of a second home tax could put a few more euros in the coffers and thus relieve the budget of the Unterhaching community. A citizen had thought about that and made a petition in the town hall. His second argument in favor of such a tax: some of the apartments would then be available again as a primary residence in the tense real estate market. The local council surrendered to the proposal in its most recent meeting and came to the conclusion: That doesn’t make sense for us.
What the man probably did not know or did not consider: In order to collect money in this way, such a high effort would be necessary that in the end nothing or very little gets around for the community. The town hall administration has calculated and listed everything that needs to be done so that the first euro can flow from second home users. SHE then pointed out that the current staff in the town hall could not do this, but that at least one clerk and some temporary workers would be required. There would also be no getting around a professional opinion.
The municipal administration in Unterhaching has currently identified 1,500 registered second homes. How many there are actually still has to be found out by comparing it with the property tax database. In fact, a second home is basically a home that is not used as the main home. If the municipality will levy a second home tax, it must first issue a statute. SHE cannot collect money from everyone who uses a second home, because there are numerous reasons for an exemption. There are, for example, accommodations for non-profit or public bodies for therapeutic purposes, apartments in nursing homes or homes for the elderly, the apartments of detained criminals, minors in training and students without income, as well as communal accommodation for police officers and soldiers.
Is calculated using the net rent, which is multiplied by the tax rate. But there is no rent index in Unterhaching. In order to explain the sums involved, the town hall administration used examples from the Immobilienscout24.de online portal and assumed the city of Munich’s current tax rate of nine percent. However, Munich will increase the second home tax to 18 percent in the coming year. For a one-room apartment with a monthly rent of € 725, at the current tax rate, € 783 would flow into the community annually, double that from next year. For a three-room apartment, around 1284 euros would currently be due, for a semi-detached house with monthly rent excluding charges of 3186 euros.
But it must be calculated with a high number of exemptions as well as numerous objection and legal action procedures, warned the administration. In order to commission the necessary preparatory work and to create the legal basis for collecting the tax, at least two posts will be created for the budget year 2022, it said from the town hall. Nobody in the local council wanted that. This effort, i.e. the unanimous opinion of the committee, is simply too great.